Bird & Bird advises Concedus on crowdfunding service provider licence application
Contacts
Johannes Wirtz, LL.M. (London)
Partner
Germany
As partner in our Finance & Financial Regulation Group in Frankfurt, I advise our national and international clients on banking regulatory issues and finance law.
Bird & Bird has advised German investment firm Concedus GmbH on its application for a licence under the EU Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulation ((EU) 2020/1503 - ECSPR) as a crowdfunding service provider.
The application was submitted on 10th November 2021 - the date from which the regulation first applies. Concedus' application for a licence with BaFin is thus likely to be one of the first in the entire EU.
Last year, the EU passed the ESCPR, which takes effect from 10th November 2021. This sets uniform, EU-wide requirements for crowdfunding service providers and enables them to operate across borders. As an investment firm, Concedus GmbH already operates investment brokerage and acts as a liability umbrella for well-known crowdfunding platforms. In the future, it also plans to offer its services under the new EU regulation.
As a European pioneer, Concedus took advantage of the opportunity to submit the licence application on the day the regulation became applicable. The particular challenge was that BaFin has not yet published any guidance on the authorisation procedure. In addition, ESMA provides the relevant implementation rules only in consultation versions, but the rules have not yet been issued by the European Commission.
Concedus GmbH was advised by the following Bird & Bird lawyers: counsel Johannes Wirtz, LL.M., partner Dr. Matthias Winter and associate Timo Förster, (all Finance & Financial Regulation, Frankfurt am Main).
Last year, the EU passed the ESCPR, which takes effect from 10th November 2021. This sets uniform, EU-wide requirements for crowdfunding service providers and enables them to operate across borders. As an investment firm, Concedus GmbH already operates investment brokerage and acts as a liability umbrella for well-known crowdfunding platforms. In the future, it also plans to offer its services under the new EU regulation.
As a European pioneer, Concedus took advantage of the opportunity to submit the licence application on the day the regulation became applicable. The particular challenge was that BaFin has not yet published any guidance on the authorisation procedure. In addition, ESMA provides the relevant implementation rules only in consultation versions, but the rules have not yet been issued by the European Commission.
Concedus GmbH was advised by the following Bird & Bird lawyers: counsel Johannes Wirtz, LL.M., partner Dr. Matthias Winter and associate Timo Förster, (all Finance & Financial Regulation, Frankfurt am Main).